Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life

Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life PDF Author: Isaac Kramnick
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393254976
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
“Illuminating.” —Phil Zuckerman, author of Living the Secular Life If the First Amendment protects the separation of church and state, why have atheists had to fight for their rights? In this valuable work, R. Laurence Moore and Isaac Kramnick reveal the fascinating history of atheism in America and the legal challenges to federal and state laws that made atheists second-class citizens.

Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life

Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life PDF Author: Isaac Kramnick
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393254976
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Illuminating.” —Phil Zuckerman, author of Living the Secular Life If the First Amendment protects the separation of church and state, why have atheists had to fight for their rights? In this valuable work, R. Laurence Moore and Isaac Kramnick reveal the fascinating history of atheism in America and the legal challenges to federal and state laws that made atheists second-class citizens.

Discrimination Against Atheists

Discrimination Against Atheists PDF Author: Nina Weiler-Harwell
Publisher: LFB Scholarly Publishing
ISBN: 9781593324414
Category : Atheists
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Weiler-Harwell examines continuing, legal, discrimination against atheists, as made clear in two cases: Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000) and Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2004). These rulings created a new, discriminatory level of distinction for believers versus non-believers that is ahistorical in light of previous Supreme Court precedent. Both cases created new standards for analyzing equality under the law for non-conformists such as atheists, shaping a new hierarchy of protected and unprotected forms of religious belief. The new judicial standards elevate monotheistic religious belief over the neutrality standard that had been heralded in prior Supreme Court decisions and create a kind of American Civil Religion."--Provided by publisher.

Why There Is No God

Why There Is No God PDF Author: Armin Navabi
Publisher: Atheist Republic
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
"Science can't explain the complexity and order of life; God must have designed it to be this way.""God's existence is proven by scripture.""There's no evidence that God doesn't exist.""God has helped me so much. How could none of it be true?""Atheism has killed more people than religion, so it must be wrong!" How many times have you heard arguments like these for why God exists? Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to 20 Common Arguments for the Existence of God provides simple, easy-to-understand counterpoints to the most popular arguments made for the existence of God. Each chapter presents a concise explanation of the argument, followed by a response illustrating the problems and fallacies inherent in it. Whether you're an atheist, a believer or undecided, this book offers a solid foundation for building your own inquiry about the concept of God.

Hi, I'm an Atheist!

Hi, I'm an Atheist! PDF Author: David G. McAfee
Publisher: St. Martin's Essentials
ISBN: 1250782090
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
The essential guide to coming out as a non-believer David G. McAfee was raised in a conservative American Christian household. So when he stopped believing in God—any god—his family was shocked. He quickly realized that atheists are misunderstood, frequently thought of as Satan worshippers and anarchists. Thus started McAfee's journey to his true self, and crusade to tell others—especially those who are devoutly religious—what atheism really is, what he believes in, and why atheists should not be feared. In Hi, I'm an Atheist!, McAfee looks at what an atheist believes and how to “come out” as an atheist to your friends, family, and co-workers, offering sound advice on overcoming the difficult moments in any “coming out” conversation. Including a resource guide both for people just coming to atheism and people who have been atheists for years as well as an interview with Rebecca Vitsmun, the woman made famous for coming out as an atheist live on CNN, Hi I’m an Atheist! is a smart, sensitive, and realistic guide to living one’s life positively and honestly without the need for a belief in God.

The Godless Constitution

The Godless Constitution PDF Author: Isaac Kramnick
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393315240
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
The Godless Constitution is a ringing rebuke to the religious right's attempts, fueled by misguided and inaccurate interpretations of American history, to dismantle the wall between church and state erected by the country's founders. The authors, both distinguished scholars, revisit the historical roots of American religious freedom, paying particular attention to such figures as John Locke, Roger Williams, and especially Thomas Jefferson, and examine the controversies, up to the present day, over the proper place of religion in our political life. With a new chapter that explores the role of religion in the public life of George W. Bush's America, The Godless Constitution offers a bracing return to the first principles of American governance.

Village Atheists

Village Atheists PDF Author: Leigh Eric Schmidt
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691183112
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
A compelling history of atheism in American public life A much-maligned minority throughout American history, atheists have been cast as a threat to the nation’s moral fabric, barred from holding public office, and branded as irreligious misfits in a nation chosen by God. Yet village atheists—as these godless freethinkers came to be known by the close of the nineteenth century—were also hailed for their gutsy dissent from stultifying pieties and for posing a necessary secularist challenge to the entanglements of church and state. In Village Atheists, Leigh Eric Schmidt explores the complex cultural terrain that unbelievers have long had to navigate in their fight to secure equal rights and liberties in American public life. He rebuilds the history of American secularism from the ground up, giving flesh and blood to these outspoken infidels. Village Atheists demonstrates that the secularist vision for the United States proved to be anything but triumphant in a country where faith and citizenship were—and still are—closely interwoven.

Why We Believe in God(s)

Why We Believe in God(s) PDF Author: J. Anderson Thomson
Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA)
ISBN: 0984493239
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description
In this groundbreaking volume, J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., MD, with Clare Aukofer, offers a succinct yet comprehensive study of how and why the human mind generates religious belief. Dr. Thomson, a highly respected practicing psychiatrist with credentials in forensic psychiatry and evolutionary psychology, methodically investigates the components and causes of religious belief in the same way any scientist would investigate the movement of astronomical bodies or the evolution of life over time—that is, as a purely natural phenomenon. Providing compelling evidence from psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, and related fields, he, with Ms. Aukofer, presents an easily accessible and exceptionally convincing case that god(s) were created by man—not vice versa. With this slim volume, Dr. Thomson establishes himself as a must-read thinker and leading voice on the primacy of reason and science over superstition and religion.

Race in a Godless World

Race in a Godless World PDF Author: Nathan G. Alexander
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526142392
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
Is modern racism a product of secularisation and the decline of Christian universalism? The debate has raged for decades, but up to now, the actual racial views of historical atheists and freethinkers have never been subjected to a systematic analysis. Race in a Godless World sets out to correct the oversight. It centres on Britain and the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century, a time when popular atheist movements were emerging and scepticism about the truth of Christianity was becoming widespread. Covering racial and evolutionary science, imperialism, slavery and racial prejudice in theory and practice, it provides a much-needed account of the complex and sometimes contradictory ideas espoused by the transatlantic community of atheists and freethinkers. It also reflects on the social dimension of irreligiousness, exploring how working-class atheists’ experiences of exclusion could make them sympathetic to other marginalised groups.

Women Beyond Belief

Women Beyond Belief PDF Author: Karen L. Garst
Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA)
ISBN: 1634310837
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Women have made great strides toward equal rights over the past hundred years, especially in the West. But when considering the ongoing fight over reproductive rights and equal pay—and the prevalence of sexual violence and domestic abuse—it is clear that a significant gap still exists. With scripture often cited as justification for the marginalization of women, it is time to acknowledge that one of the final barriers to full equality for women is religion. Much has been written about the great strides humankind has made in knocking down many long-held religious beliefs, whether related to the age of the earth or the origin of the species. But religion's negative impact on women has been less studied and discussed. This book is a step toward changing that. Twenty-two women from a variety of backgrounds and Judeo-Christian traditions share their personal stories about how they came to abandon organized religion, and how they discovered life after moving away from religious and supernatural beliefs. Their words serve both as a celebration of all who have taken similar steps under the weight of thousands of years of religious history—and as a source of inspiration for those individuals, especially women, who have deep doubts about their own belief traditions but who don't yet know how to embrace life without falling back on religion.

Varieties of Atheism in Science

Varieties of Atheism in Science PDF Author: Elaine Howard Ecklund
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197539165
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Why study atheism among scientists? -- "Tried and found wanting" : how atheist scientists explain religious transitions -- "I am not like Richard:" modernist atheist scientists -- Ties that bind : culturally religious atheists -- Spiritual atheist scientists -- What atheist scientists think about science -- How atheist scientists approach meaning and morality -- From rhetoric to reality : why religious believers should give atheist scientists a chance.